Andrew Peters – Lillooet WorkBC ESC - Rural/Indigenous

Andrew was unemployed and actively job searching when he came to the Lillooet WorkBC Employment Services Centre, Open Door Group, for support. He started working with an Employment Advisor and had also acquired skills from a previous Job Creation Partnership Project (JCP) with WorkBC in Log Structure Building and Ethno-botany. Andrew was still finding that his JCP experience, coupled with his Fuel Management and limited Maintenance experience, were not enough for him to successfully compete for jobs in these fields.

Andrew faced some challenges in only having a Grade twelve education with no other recognized skilled training or certification, residing in a rural area where he did not have access to transportation, financial hardship and family responsibilities. Andrew has a very strong work ethic and enjoys working in an outdoor environment. He expressed interest in working in the Landscaping and Maintenance fields and was referred to and selected to participate in the Splitrock Environmental Sekw’el’was Sustainable Landscaping Design and Installation Job Creation Project. As a result of his participation in this project he learned all Landscaping techniques including soft and hard landscaping, greenhouse propagation, creating plans and concepts using tools such as Vectorworks Software, Masonry; working with cement, laying bricks and rocks. Andrew was also provided business development counselling through a small business plan training session in this project.

At the completion of the project Andrew was laid off for a short period of time and then was re-hired as a permanent employee with Splitrock and said “I like doing the Stone Masonry, trying to find the right rock in the right place it was like a puzzle. Brick Laying is about measurement/right fit and Math. I really enjoyed working on the Computer program and wanting to get a computer to get the program myself”.

Andrew started work for Builders World and was quickly welcomed to the team on a permanent full time basis. He is working in Customer Service with garden, landscaping and building supplies.